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Kaoruko woke up to silence.
Through her barely awake mind, she wondered if she was in the middle of a dream instead. It had to be, given that it was so quiet. Everyday, for such a long time that she couldn’t recall a time where it hadn’t happened, it had always been her waking up because Futaba was shouting at her or pulling off all the blankets.
This morning, nothing.
Kaoruko blearily opened her eyes, and soon realized why.
It was still dark, and it was raining outside. That must have been what woke her up, even before all of Futaba’s early alarms. How and why Futaba would willingly give up precious sleep to wake up at such an awful time would be one of the many things that evaded Kaoruko’s understanding. Like the sleep she wasn’t getting right now.
Dumb rain, she thought, trying to huddle closer into her blankets. Outside, the rain pattered against their window. Of course it had to be noisy too. Kaoruko mumbled angrily to herself and closed her eyes, hoping she could fall right back asleep. Except, now that she was awake, she realized there was another issue on hand that needed to be addressed.
It was cold.
It was so cold that Kaoruko thought she was going to freeze to death. She curled into herself, but she was still shivering. Too cold to stay in bed, too cold to leave bed.
Except…
There was one thing she knew she could do for instant warmth.
Kaoruko threw her blankets off—and never had she ever regretted a decision in her life so much in her life. “O-o-oh!” she whispered, shuddering as she furiously rubbed her arms. She quickly swung her feet over and touched the floor—she swallowed down her gasp of surprise, flinching away from the sheer cold.
This wasn’t one of her best ideas, Kaoruko was quickly thinking. Wait, no, she couldn’t back out now, after tossing away all the warmth from her blankets.
And, she knew the prize at the end would be worth the trouble.
Maybe.
Kaoruko took a deep breath and stole across the frigid floor as quickly as she could. Squinting through the darkness, she found the edge of Futaba’s blanket, and flung it open. As quickly as she could, which in this very moment with the promise of being warm was horrifyingly fast, she dove under the blankets.
“W-what?!” Futaba snapped awake, and Kaoruko threw herself on top of her to hold her down.
“It’s me!” Kaoruko hissed through the darkness. She moved to make herself as comfortable as possible, never mind that Futaba kept squirming around and trying to pull her off.
“K-Kaoruko?! What are you—ah! Your feet are so cold!”
“Yes, they are, Futaba-han. It’s such a good thing you’re here to help me warm up.” Kaoruko continued to make herself comfortable, delighting in Futaba’s warmth. Oh, it’d been worth those seconds of tortuous cold! “Thanks for your help, Futaba-han, good night.”
“Hold on, Kaoruko! What are you mean good night!? We have to wake up for school soon!”
“No, it’s Sunday, you know?” Kaoruko quickly corrected. Futaba was still trying to push her away but Kaoruko remained glued to her side. She had found wonderful warmth, and this was the one thing she wasn’t going to give up! She tangled her arms and legs around Futaba, all but trapping her underneath. “Silly Futaba-han, already forgetting your days? Aren’t you glad I’m here to remind you?”
“... Sunday?” Futaba stopped struggling. Good, that was good. Perfect, Kaoruko thought.
“Yep! So don’t worry about waking up,” she said. Her voice was already low and tinged with sleep, already feeling herself starting to drift off. She turned her face, nuzzling into Futaba’s neck, who tensed up.
“—ngh! Even your nose is cold,” Futaba grumbled. Kaoruko only smiled against Futaba’s skin. Slowly, underneath her, she could feel Futaba relaxing. There was even a hand running through Kaoruko’s hair, lulling her off to sleep. That felt nice.
Futaba felt so nice, and she was so warm. She could even feel her feet starting to warm up too. As she thought, Futaba really was the best pillow. This was… perfect. If Kaoruko could describe sheer bliss, she would think of this moment, of herself curled on top of Futaba, and Futaba who let herself spoil Kaoruko, the both of them warming each other up—
Futaba snapped upright suddenly and Kaoruko was pulled out into the cold with her. Without any other warning, Futaba shoved her away. Kaoruko was too stunned to say anything until she felt herself fall over the edge of the bed. She landed on the floor, her screams of surprise now muffled by the blankets that fell on top of her.
Dazed, and also so very cold, Kaoruko pulled the blankets off her face, ready to yell at Futaba until she realized Futaba was now glaring at her over the edge of the bed.
“Did you really think that could fool me?! I know it’s Friday, not Sunday!”
… oh.
If Futaba was going to be like that, then—then!
Even though the floor was freezing, Kaoruko wrapped the blankets around herself, turning herself into a cocoon of blankets. There was still some of the leftover warmth, and that was what Kaoruko was really looking for anyway! Now Futaba was going to be all cold because Kaoruko had her blankets, and then she’d regret shoving Kaoruko off! Even if Futaba begged for them back, Kaoruko wouldn’t give them to her! Hmph! Served her right!
“... you serious about doing this right now?”
“Hmph!” Kaoruko didn’t even want to answer her. She nestled herself further into the blankets. The floor was cold, but Kaoruko knew she would get comfortable and fall back asleep. Kaoruko could sleep on anything if she tried, a proud accomplishment that served to annoy Futaba to no ends.
Except Kaoruko found herself lifted up instead, and she yelped. When she turned her head, there was Futaba, a smile on her face that Kaoruko knew wasn’t going to be good. “Being like this just makes you easy to toss out in the rain.”
Kaoruko gasped. “You wouldn’t!”
Futaba’s grin only grew wider. Kaoruko paled.
“Try me!” Futaba said, and paced toward the door, and Kaoruko could do the only thing she could think of in that moment.
She swung her head forward and headbutted Futaba in the face.
“Gah!” Futaba stopped moving, which was a moment of victory for Kaoruko, except Futaba was collapsing, which meant Kaoruko was also falling to the floor. Again.
The sound of them crashing filled the room. Then, silence, as Futaba clutched at her face, and Kaoruko found herself dazed again, but now with the added bonus of her forehead hurting too. Outside, the rain continued to pour and patter against their window, the only noise in the room right now.
“... are we still going to school, Futaba-han?” Kaoruko asked after a while.
“... yes," Futaba answered with a hiss of pain.
Kaoruko pouted.